The Lonely Bridge
by Zovrin
Summary: Mal sits alone on the bridge, coming to realize he's missing something. The absent reader. Maliver. Mal River Fanfic.


So this is just something I wrote to pass the time after I watched the BDM for the umteenth time. Hope you like it. Strong Sexual Content.

...

It hit him like a ton of bricks, completely shattering his world. It wasn't some big blowout event or near death experience that finally broke his resolve, but the smallest ripple in an ocean of waves.

There Mal was sitting alone on the bridge staring at the stars when he looked over and saw the empty copilot chair. It was odd to him, it being empty, because it was so often occupied by River over the last many months. It wasn't that he was never on the bridge alone; he'd just gotten used to her being there. It near blew him over the sudden realization that he wanted nothing more than her to be sitting there right now. Wanted nothing more than just to see her. He tried to shake himself out of whatever jumbled mess of thoughts brought him to this place, but as he did, his wish was granted.

She came in as silent as a calm breeze, he didn't even notice her entrance; he imagined he must have dazed off for a minute.

"What took you so long?" River asked breaking the silence.

He was dumfounded. He knew she was a reader, but it always surprised him when she had most definitely been in his mind.

"What do ya mean darlin?" He asked with a pang of guilt in his voice.

"Don't play dumb." She responded with a roll of her eyes.

She never said much, but he always knew the meaning behind her words, even if he pretended not to.

"Not sure I catch your meaning there River." He responded trying once again to maintain his innocence.

"So you are the one who daydreams about bending me over that console over there, but you don't catch my meaning?" She responded with accusation, giggling to herself about her ability to unsettle him.

"Whoa now darlin. You know you ain't supposed to be rummaging around in my head." He deflected, knowing it was a losing strategy, but inside begging for someone to interrupt them.

"Nobody is coming to save you. Not that you really want to be saved anyways." She said flatly.

"What did I just say about being inside my head?" He responded uncomfortably.

"Ugh. You are like a child." She sighed in frustration at his antics, deciding she was tired of waiting for Mal to make his move. So she got up and walked towards him, making Mal shift uncomfortably in his chair before she even got within spitting distance of him.

He thought she was going to come right up to him and force herself into his personal space, but instead she moved in front of him and bent herself over the console placing her elbows down near the controls. Slowly she started spreading her legs before him and turned her head around with a grin on her face. As if she were challenging him to play out one of his many fantasies.

"And what is it that you are doin there?" He asked completely dumfounded, half choking the words out as he spoke.

"Am I not doing this right?" She asked, grin widening as she half mocked him.

"Well that depends on what you mean to be doing. Sure are making me all kind of uncomfortable tho." He continued his plan of playing stupid, but couldn't help the giant swallow of air in his throat.

River was tired of beating around the bush so she stuck with her own plan and lifted up the fan of her skirt onto her back so he was looking straight into her backside and could see her full bottom, only a small part covered by her panties.

"Isn't this what you want Captain?" She asked seductively.

The string of mandarin that came out of his mouth likely would have even made Jayne a little uncomfortable, but River had been expecting it. So she spread her legs a little further apart and gave a slight moan to enhance her position.

"River- I can't be having this from you right now." Mal said sternly in his captainy voice.

"Well I'm sick of 'having it' from you like this in your head, but not in reality." She shot back at him.

As much as Mal had tried to convince himself to walk away, he couldn't take his eyes off the edges of her panties. He needed to walk away. He also needed to reach out and push them aside. Never had Malcolm Reynolds been so at war with his own thoughts.

"Please Mal." River whispered through a sigh.

Mal could only focus on the longing in her tone and the ever-increasing tightness in his pants. He continued to fight the battle in his mind, but his resolve continued to crumble.

"River, Darlin, you know I can't-" He started, before he was interrupted by her motions as she began to slide her panties down from her back, stopping before she revealed too much. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of doing all the work for him. She was just simply hastening his inevitable defeat.

"You can't what?" She questioned as she stopped her undressing with amusement in her tone.

"I uh…" Mal stuttered, crumbling.

"I guess if you can't I should just go finish off myself." She played, slowly maneuvering her panties back to their original position. And then she felt him break. His mind moving from what he wanted to do, to what he intended to do. And a smile crept back onto her face.

"Gorramit River. You and I are gonna have a serious chat later about boundaries." He spat out frustrated, but defeat in his voice.

"Won't that be fun." She replied sarcastically as she let go of her panties once again letting them sit half pulled down, simply waiting for him to take control.

"As for now…" Mal began as he reached out and grabbed her panties quickly pulling them down and dropping them to her ankles on the floor. "I aim to misbehave." He finished as he stood up behind her and brought his hand up the inside of her thighs and found the wetness in the middle with his fingers.

Her entire body shuttered as he made contact with her folds and began massaging her clit.

"Finally." She hissed out as her entire body flooded with pleasure.

"This what you wanted darlin?" He asked as he continued to make work with his fingers.

"Yes. What you wanted too." She moaned out in response.

"That all you wanted?" Mal asked stopping his motions, teasing her to take a little more control over the situation he now found himself in.

"No." She hissed in frustration. "Now fuck me Mal or I'm gonna go have Jayne do it." She shot back at him, knowing it would completely unhinge the captain.

After a small burst of unintelligible curses neither had ever heard before Mal dropped his trousers and gave in to her demands.

Then he found himself slowly coming to realize he'd had this entire fantasy before, played out exactly the same way. And suddenly Mal jolted awake, finding himself once again alone on the bridge. Failing to notice a smiling River perched outside the doorway behind him.

...

I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you thought if you would.


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